And Hogwarts Wept
by Kaluki
Summary: Her children all turned their backs on her Hogwarts turns her back on them all. All, that is, except for one, who thought of her as his home and refused to be turned away.


**Summary: **Her children all turned their backs on her; Hogwarts turns her back on them all. All, that is, except for one, who thought of her as his home and refused to be turned away.

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter isn't mine.

**Authors Notes:** Not entirely sure where this one came from – just one of those things that seem to fall out of the pencil by themselves. It ended up as an experiment as much as anything, particularly in the writing style – tell me what you think of it!

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**And Hogwarts Wept**

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"_The grass is green,  
__The rose is red,  
__Remember me,  
__When I am dead, dead, dead…"_

Hogwarts was destroyed in battle, and the ruins overgrown by the forbidden forest. No one dares step foot among the broken stones, and tales of the darkness of the forest have spread until it is even more feared than Voldemort himself. They say that the sun never shines there, that always Hogwarts weeps, and always Hogwarts grieves. She does not understand why her children have turned on themselves so, and so she bars them entry, with thorns and magic. Not even Albus Dumbledore dares enter her lamenting grounds, and the ghosts have long since fled.

There is one though, one slight scrap who would not be turned away. She fought him, but he held his path; he laid his magic bare and lowered his sword, and opened his mind to her probing touch. And the rain let up, the branches cleared; a wooden hut, a pumpkin patch in a peaceful glade. And the man ran to the house and wept, and explained to the castle that his first friend was dead, and she, his home, all but lost.

Then he swore his revenge, and she sadly let him go, parting wispy mist before him as, behind him, the raindrops sang their lament and farewell.

And the man fell in battle, sacrificing himself so that his enemy would fall with him and all he loved would be saved. But Hogwarts could not let him go, for all of mankind was cruel and corrupt but him and she longed for his touch and his kindness. So he awoke in the overgrown castle, brought back and protected, and Hogwarts welcomed him. And though the battle still raged, for without their leader the Death Eaters fought for their lives, she kept him, guarded and sheltered him.

Like a jealous lover, she allowed him no contact with the outside world, for fear that they would come and hurt him, that they would corrupt him and take him away like so many of her children had gone before. And so he did not know if his friends survived, and not even his dreams could tell him what he sought.

The years passed, and though the sun shone through the mists of Hogwarts, the man could not feel its heat, and he wept. So Hogwarts lifted the mists for him, and let the sun shine through unimpeded to lighten his days. But the man took to the shadows and hid from its light, and he wept. So Hogwarts sent him friends, and let the unicorn and the phoenix play once again in her glades. But the man kept to the shadows and hid from their joy, and he wept.

And so Hogwarts sent him the snakes, and let them come and talk to her child and bring him word of the world he came from. But the man remained in the shadows and hid from their news, but he did not weep, for he had no tears left to shed.

And so Hogwarts feared, for her child had no one to offer his kindness, and none to accept his love. And Hogwarts wept, for she had caused him such sadness. But she had kept him too long in her shadows, and the world he knew was dead and gone.

And so Hogwarts sent him his friends, and he woke to find himself among the lost and the fallen. And he did not weep, in sorrow or in joy, for in the glades of Death there are no tears. And he did not laugh, in greeting or in bitterness, for in the valleys of Death there are no voices. And he did not dance, in mourning or in elation, for in the realms of Death there are no bodies.

But still, he rejoiced, and Hogwarts felt his happiness at last. And the rain fell on Hogwarts for the tears he could not shed, and the children laughed at Hogwarts with voice he could not speak, and the magic danced at Hogwarts with the joy he could not express.

_- Fin -_

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